Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-01-20
NOAH AND THE ARK.
DR.. cURTISS NOTES ON THE SUM-
DAY SCHOOL LESSON.

Lesson " for Sunday, Jan. e3-Lesson
Text, Gen. vi, s:22-Golden Text, Gen.
vii, 8: Noah Did According to All
that the Lord Had Commanded Him."
Traditions of the Flood.-Almost every
people, except the black races, are said to
hav a tradition of the food This is the case
even among the inhabitants Of the South
Sea islands and the American Indians. This
tradition was undoubtedly handed down
from the original ancestral seat of the human
race in the valley of the Euphrates The
account which bears the closest resemblance
to that in the Bible is found in the Chaldean
Genesis as transmitted on the tablets of the
cuneiform inscriptions. There is this strik-
ing difference, however, that, while the
Scriptures clearly represent that the deluge
was sent in punishment of sin, the Chaldean
Genesis indicates this fact only obscurely.
THE LESSON.
Noah's Character and Descendants Tvs.
9,10.-"These are the generations of Noah. :"
The expression generations as used here
and In some other passages is equivalent
to history. We may regard this clause,
therefore, as equivalent to "This is the
history of Noah" "Noah was Just Re-
vised Version), righteous man." This does
not indicate that he was sinleSs, but rather
that he was man Of rectituds or rightness
Of character. "And perfect in his genera
tions." The word ''blameleSs, of the Re-
vised Version, instead of perfect conveys
a clearer idea Of what he was. As of
Enoch, it is said Of him that he 'swalked
with God," thus indicating the harmony of
his life with the divine plau.
The descendants of three sons of Noah are
found in the tenth chapter of Genesis. To
name some representative peoples under
each, we find among the sons of Shem the
Assyrians, the Aramaans and.the Hebrews;
among those Of Ham, the Egyptians and
Canaanites; and among those of Japheth,
the Ionians, the Celts, etc
Wickedness Of the World Tvs II, 12.)-
These verses teach three things-Q) that
the earth was corrupt; q that it was filed
with violence; 81 that all flesh had cor
rupted its way, and hence was responsible
for this result
How, then, had this state of things come
about3 According to an Interpretation that
is as probable as any, from the marriage of
the Church and the world There were two
main ines-the Cainites, distinguished for
the arts Of civilization; the Sethites, for
their piety. The Sethites, or ''the sons of
God" united with the Canites, or ''the
daughters of men," The sons who sprang
from this union were men of renown, but
the wickedness of man was very great.
Only one man was left of whom it could be
said that he walked with God.
Universally of the Flood ". 13)-''Thee end
of all flesh is come before mel seems to re-
fer not only to the destruction of man, as
determined by God, but also to that Of the
animals, who suffer on account of sin. The
question may be raised here as to the uniyer-
salty of the food. This must be determined
by two considerations-(D its iutent; q the
testimony of Scriptures. The object of the
food was to sweep man from the earth on
account Of his wickedness. 1t was not nee
essary, therefore, that it should be Of
greater extent than the population of the
earth, which probably then occupied q COM
paratively small portion Of the surface Of
the globe. So far as the expression "an
the high mountains that were under the
whole heaven were covered" (Revised Yer
sion), we are to understand this as referring
to the inhabited earth as known to the sa-
cred writers, in the sense of other passages
of Scripture which are not less absolute,
but which certainly do not indicate the
whole world Deut. ii, 25; Acts 20.
The Ark Tvs. 14-16.-We do not know
what kind of wood was used in the con-
struction of the ark. The dimensions of the
ark, reckoning twenty-one inches to the
cubit, were 525 feet in length, 81 feet 8
inches in breadth and 80 feet inches in
height 1t was consequently considerably
smaller than the Great Eastern (Smith's
Unabridged Bible Dictionary. It was ar
ranged in three stories, which were divided
up into cells for the animals. The ark was
furnished with eight" according to the
Revised Version; in the Old Version called
a window The word opening is considered
in Hebrew collective, and hence the refer
ence is not to one small window. How the
lighting, which very likely included venitila-
ton, was accomplished we do not know.
Gods Threat and Covenant ". 10.-God
is spoken of here as the author Of the food,
but it is not determined whether he wrought
a special miracle, or whether he made use
of natural causes in bringing it about. 1t
would seem as though no action of the or
binary laws Of nature would be sufficient to
account for such phenomenon, although,
according to Lyell, sin June, 1919, the
sea flowed in by the eastern mouth Of the
Indus, and in few hours converted tract
of land 2, 900 square mills in area into an in
land sea or lagoon"
". 49, Gods covenant, which he prom
ises to establish with Noah, Is described later
(Gen. IL, 9-10, and was made with him
after the flood; but he and his family were
to reap the benefits of it at once. With re-
gard to Noah and his family, it gave them
the assurances that they should be pre-
served; and with reference to his posterity
GO1, cad fhof fhorsa Sborrl6 hQ q
food to destroy the earth again.
Animals Kept Alive Tvs. 19-2D.-The
animals that are to be kept alive are gath
cred to Noah in the ark. How they came
we do not know. We can only suppose
that it was through direct miracle that
those which were to be preserved in that
part of the earth where the deluge was to
take place presented themselves under divine
direction to Noah.
Significance of the Flood.-What, we may
ask, IS the significance of the 1ood' 1t shows
the abominable nature Of sin in Gods
sight. 1t Is the forerunner of all those judg-
ments which God visits on sin, as recorded
in the Old Testament in the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, in the command for
the extinction of the Canaanites, and in his
dealings with his covenant people. 1t Is a
type of the judgments which are indicated
in the New Testament, which he will visit
on the finally impenitent. It shows that
God will have his people separate from the
world, and that in an Old Testament his
tory Gods chosen people were in danger OF
banishing the true faith from the earth
through conformity to the world. Indeed,
the Church is threatened with no more
serious danger to-day than that the stand
ards of doctrine and life should be lowered,
and that it should be forgotten that the
way to life, as Christ described it, is strait
and narrow, and that we must agonize, like
the Greek contestants for prize, to enter
in.-Sunday School World.
Anti-Tithe Agitation in Wales.
The anti-tithe agitation in Wales has as
sumed such proportions that a subscription